The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Councilor Oschrin: Let's Deprioritize Car Culture; Oschrin: Raise Personal Property Taxes (Vehicles)

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Councilor Oschrin – Let’s Deprioritize Car Culture Oschrin: Raise Personal Property Taxes (Vehicles) City Council Votes Yes To Cease Fire In Gaza CVille Public Schools Sports + Metal Detectors More Details: Monticello Media Fires Joe Thomas No Transfers Yet For UVA Men’s Basketball Team Kochis Has Filled CPD Vacancies (30 down to 3) Central VA Real Estate Values Q1, 23 v Q1, 24 Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Wednesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. It's great to be with you on what we hope is the water cooler of conversation in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and Central Virginia. A lot of local topics we are going to discuss alongside you, the viewer and listener, on a slushy and rainy afternoon in a town and city and region we love dearly. Take a look at today's headlines through an homage to part of the interruption with headlines on screen on the right side of whatever platform you are watching upon. If you want to go a colon instead of a dash on the first headline, we don't have that

E chopped off. That's a revision I should have made. My apologies there, Judah. I want to talk to Counselor Natalie Oshren, who is ambitiously trying to deprioritizeing roads in the city to improve safety in the city. bicycle lanes, improved pedestrian walkways on a platform of diminishing car culture in the city. So she is following through on her campaign and she tallied the most votes of any this past election cycle in a Democrat dominated City Council race. I want to talk public schools and their sports getting metal detectors. This fall as you enter Charlottesville Public School sporting events you will walk through metal detectors. We'll unpack that today. We have more details to offer on Monticello Media's firing

of talented and award-winning broadcaster Joe Thomas. So far, no transfers from the Virginia men's basketball team. We'll talk about that today. Look at what in-state rival Virginia Tech is going through, where they've basically had their entire roster or close to it transfer from Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech program. UVA, so far, no transfers. Will that theme continue? I'll talk about that on the program. Chief Kochess broke some news yesterday, the police chief in the city.

Very grateful, Judah, that he joined us in person on the I Love Seville show, for I thought a thought-provoking interview and conversation. I'm curious of your take on that. He highlighted in yesterday's, what, 50-minute interview, roughly, that his department has filled vacancies quickly prior to Chief Katchus' arrival, 30 open spots within the Charlottesville Police Department. Currently, there are three. We'll talk about that today. And I want to highlight Per Keefe Smith, real estate values, quarter over quarter, Q1 2023 versus Q1 2024 on this program. A lot to cover on a program, the I Love Civo Show, that airs from a studio on Market Street in downtown Charlottesville, 50 yards from the Charlottesville Police Department, a block from the Albemarle County Courthouse, from the Charlottesville Courthouse,

just off the downtown mall, smack dab in the center or epicenter of Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia, and in the shadows of Thomas Jefferson's University, less than two miles from Scott Stadium, the John Paul Jones Arena, and the Rotunda. Let's welcome Judah B. Wickhauer, the Jack of all trades, the Jack of all wits, Mr. Consistency, as Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe has dubbed him. Natalie Ostrand, she runs on a platform of deprioritizing car culture. She ran on a platform of improved bicycle lanes, improved sidewalks, and pedestrian experiences in the city.

And she is literally doing just that. She is looking to increase the property taxes on vehicles so we can diminish the need potentially of raising the meals tax. And she's literally doing this in the bottom of the ninth inning. The city charter says the budget needs to be set by April 15th. It is April 3rd. The tax increase needs to be advertised in the local newspaper for seven days. The local newspaper is not helping because it publishes only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and not every day.

So if it needs to be advertised for seven days in the newspaper, and the paper only publishes a print edition three days a week, that's further shrinking the window of advertisement for a tax increase, like she's suggesting, for vehicles. There's so much to unpack on this story. Does raising the personal property tax on vehicles, does it hurt poor folks more than it hurts wealthy folks? Does raising the personal property taxes on vehicles hurt poor folks less than raising the meals tax does? We'll talk about

that today. We'll talk about this city and whether it's truly a de-prioritizing car culture welcoming city and that's public transportation sidewalks at bicycle lanes yeah a lot I want to talk about if you want to get the first lower third on screen and I would love to give you Judah because I think you and I both found this thought provoking city council is recalculating now the projections for a 251 million dollar bid budget for fiscal year 2025. Sean Tubbs has great reporting on this for from his Charlottesville community sub stack. Where do you want to go first, Judah? Well, my first thought is what would they do about raising taxes

if the newspaper stopped printing altogether? Would they not be allowed to, or would they, just a curious thought. That's a great question. That is a great question. Sean Tubbs reports this, Town Crier Productions, Sean Tubbs. If council wanted to go higher, he writes, they would need to let the public know by taking out a classified ad for a public hearing and they print the print version of the Daily Progress, which had a 2023 circulation of 10,326. That was when the Progress published every day. The print circulation was 10,326. And we know many of those copies did not make it to actual people. They just stood in newsstands, unpicked, without being picked up. The progress,

Sean Tubbs reports, is no longer published daily, which means the circulation has dropped, which also makes the timing, he says, of the advertisement more complicated because there's no longer a Sunday edition. So I stand corrected. It's Tuesday and Thursday and not Sunday. Wow. So two, I stand corrected, according to Sean Tubbs. So that's a fantastic question. If you have to advertise tax increases in the newspaper and the newspaper is only publishing two days a week and the newspaper's readership has diminished to next to nothing. The online aspect of the newspaper has a paywall and we know that not many folks are doing that. What is the value of this advertisement?

We'll take it a step further here. Right now, the advertised rate for personal property is $4.20, $4.20, per $100 of assessed value. The concept is to raise that $4.20 to $6, $1.80 raised per $100 to keep from increasing the meals tax to levels that would be, the food and beverage industry quantifies or describes as discouraging for customers to eat or to support their restaurants,

which I agree with. The meals tax has gotten out of control. I'm talking a lot. Judah Wickauer, jump in here. You know, I think Natalie Oshun's got some good ideas behind what she wants to do, but the follow-through, especially in this case, is just rough.

I mean, you know, I mentioned, I think I was the one that brought up her road diet plan. You were. And I don't know that that's something that needs to be done on every road, but I think it could be a solution to some of what they, you know,

creating better bike lanes, making Seville more walkable. I mean, that is the plan. It's not a bad plan. I would love it if Charlottesville was more walkable, easier to get around, better, as we've said, better infrastructure, better bus systems. But the thing is, you need to plan for that. And I feel like we're putting the cart before the horse

with this tax on vehicles. And I don't think it's going to have the effect that they want. And I think it's going to hurt a lot of people. Vanessa Parkhill, I will get to your comments in a matter of moments. The Queen of Earliesville. John Blair, I will get to your comments in a matter of moments. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts on this. Very straightforward question, Judah.

Does raising taxes on personal property like vehicles impact citizens in Charlottesville more or less than raising taxes on meals eaten in restaurants? I would think it affects them more. Explain. And then I'll offer my perspective. If you're strapped for cash, if your bank account is running on empty, you can avoid the meals tax by not eating out. I believe it's only on prepared foods, right? So that's not going to affect you going to the grocery store, buying a block of cheese slices or a steak or macaroni and cheese boxes. But a vehicle tax is going to affect everybody who has a car. And as some of the commenters on the Reddit chain mentioned, driving your car less is not going

to help you. You're still going to get taxed the exact same amount. And if you need that car for anything, it's not like you can just get rid of it. So again, I appreciate the idea. I appreciate wanting people to use their cars less and use, whether it's buses, bikes, walking more. I just don't see this as a viable solution to that. I feel the same way. I'll take it a step further. if you raise the meals tax, you are hurting an industry that employs many of the people living on the financial margin.

No doubt. If you raise the meals tax, you are discouraging folks to eat and support restaurants. So if you raise the meals tax, you get less customers in the door. Less customers in the door means less revenue for those working at the restaurants.

Less revenue for those working at the restaurants means less money in the pocket for those that are working at the restaurants. And we've identified the folks that are working on the restaurants are often on the financial margin. How does raising the meals tax even make sense? Now I'm going to take it a step further. Those are fair questions'm going to take it a step further. Those are fair questions. I'll take it a step further. I understand you have to find the money for the budget.

$251 million. And perhaps Councilor Osharan is trying to do this. Jerry's plan that he just outlined, that statement he just said, makes sense. Maybe that's Councilor Osharan's thinking. So with the theory that Jerry presented, we got to find the money for the budget elsewhere. Why don't we consider raising the personal property taxes instead of raising the meals tax? Judah outlined some very great reasoning. Just because you're not driving your car doesn't mean you're not paying taxes on your car.

You're still going to pay personal property taxes on it. Vanessa Parkhill just said, her photo on screen if you could please sir, iloveceville.com forward slash viewer rankings. Ms. Parkhill number six in the polls, the queen of Earliesville. She makes a number of comments that I think are very poignant.

Sarah Hill Buchenski and Lisa Kustalo will get to your comments in a matter of moments. On a day like today, Vanessa Parkhill says, who wants to walk for their primary source of transportation? Not me, she says. I concur. She also says, who wants to walk for their primary source of transportation? Not me, she says. I concur. She also says, are poor folks really going out to eat that much such that raising the meals tax hits them harder than some other tax increase? I would add on that comment, a lot of the folks

working in food and beverage are on financial margin. So not having customers in your door means less potential tip opportunity and or compensation for said work. No doubt. Vanessa says, does raising taxes on vehicles deprioritize cars or punish those who choose to prioritize their logistical freedom and not be dependent on public transportation? Maybe we should deprioritize government and keep more of our hard-earned money to do with as we see and support causes like we choose. And that's the greater point I want to make. The greater point I want to make on this talk show and then Judah, you jump in. You're talking about overreach. Yes. The proper thinking is not the... What's it called when you're at the Manhattan street corner and you have a cardboard box and you have three cards,

three card money? It's not playing three card money with tax dollars and figuring out which stream you're going to tax the more, meals tax, lodging tax, personal property, real estate tax, assessments, real estate tax rate. It's not the three-card Monty or robbing Peter to pay Paul. Your theory, your mindset should not be rob Jack to pay Jill. Your theory, your mindset should find a way, if you're a leader and you're physically mindful of taxpayer dollars, your theory, your mindset should be, where could we cut or how do we keep a budget that's neutral or less than last year? You keep a budget that's neutral or less than last year, then you're legitimately putting more money in the pockets of those you're trying to serve.

And she's trying to make an argument. She's trying to serve the financial margin. And if you want to serve the financial margin, it's not raise the vehicle tax, keep the meals tax lower, but raise the vehicle tax. It's just don't raise the taxes across the board. Yeah. And I think part of the problem is that a lot of people see it in terms of, oh, well, somebody who's on the financial margin is not going to have a $100,000 vehicle. So they're not going to pay the type of tax that a wealthier person would be paying on their vehicles. The problem being that as a percentage of their income, that vehicle tax may be a lot higher, even though it's a lower number, it may be a higher percentage of their overall income than it would be for a wealthy person, which means a wealthy person doesn't care that you're going to raise the tax. They can afford it. And it's still going to be a small percentage of their overall capacity, while someone in a lower income bracket is going to

end up paying a higher percentage. that could potentially you know that could potentially have them trying to decide whether this hundred dollars is going to you know feed the family or pay taxes uh fantastic good good commentary there from judah wickauer very good commentary fantastic commentary coming from number two in the family. John Blair's photo on screen, please. He says this on LinkedIn. The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill this session that will now allow public notices to be printed online and online news sources beginning July 1, 2024. Here's the link to the bill. That's education for me. So in July of this year, April, May, June, July,

a few months away from now, those advertisements can be in digital news platforms. Thank you, John, for sharing that. I learned something from you. I learned something from the viewers and listeners every day. John, thank you for that. It's good to know. It answers my question.

Very good to know. Because the newspaper is twice a week. The other print advert platform is once a week. And there are stacks of the weekly that do not get out of the newsstand. I mean, I've been seeing them empty, so I don't know if they're under printing. Stacks. This is also from John. Jerry and Judah, on the subject of ending car culture,

think about this. Check the companies that now have dockless scooters and bikes in Charlottesville. We have seen Lime and U-Bikes leave the city. I might be wrong, but is Vio the only one remaining? I believe those are the only ones that I see around nowadays.

If these companies cannot make a go, I just don't see a quick transformation from car culture. They were accessible and cheap, and the market consumers did not use them enough. On a personal note, I used to sue U-Bucks quite a lot when I worked in Charlottesville. I was worried to see that service go away. Oh, I think he said, I used to use. Excuse me. It says mistype. I used to use U-Bikes quite a lot when I worked in Charlottesville. Used. I was sorry to see that service go away. Used is what he was doing there.

That's a great point. Have you been on a Lime scooter? I've never used any of them. Have you used a VO bike? None whatsoever? No. Neither have I. Who do you predominantly see using these scooters and bikes?

Good afternoon, Kevin Yancey. I don't really see that many people using them. I just always see them, you know, tipped over on the sidewalk somewhere. I see students predominantly using them. Oh, yeah. Down in this area or? Down in this area, around grounds, around off-grounds housing,

down Ivy Road, which is crazy because there's very minimal shoulder. Yeah. I see students using them. Lisa Costolo and Sarah Hill Buchenski. Let's get Sarah Hill Buchenski's face on screen first. SHB, a woman of reason, number 23 in the family. She says this, raising the personal property tax without better alternative transportation options is absolutely bonkers. It is bonkers. It's bonkers. is absolutely bonkers. It is bonkers.

It's bonkers. It is bonkers. Yeah. Lisa Custolo, her photo on screen. Ms. Custolo is 24 in the family. ilovecevil.com forward slash viewer rankings. What about the folks who are handicapped and get around via cars and are not able to walk or ride bikes? She says, I'm 57 years old and I ride my bike all over the city as a kid.

She no longer can do that. So she used to when she was a kid, she says, neither do I want my son to do so. It's too dangerous. Collision with a car can be disastrous for bike riders. Walking is great for health and exercise. Not everyone is healthy enough to walk long distances, however. Bill McChesney, welcome to the program. Sherry Wilcomb, welcome to the program. I would like our leadership

to consider budget neutral or a budget decrease to truly return money to its citizens. Ms. Councillor Orshan is saying, it's like speaking out of both sides of your mouth. From one side of your mouth, I want to keep, I don't want this tax increase to be regressive and hurt the people that are hurt the most. That's what she's saying. And that's what she's highlighting with the meals tax. This is going to hurt the folks that go out to eat that don't have much money or they work in the industry. And that's a legitimate thing.

That's a legitimate argument. On the other side of her mouth, she's saying, let's raise the taxes on personal property so we don't have to hurt the people in meals tax. Last check, the personal property, folks are utilizing their vehicles to get to and from work. Especially people that can't afford to live in Charlottesville who have to live outside of the city. But the personal property tax increase for folks living outside the city wouldn't impact them there because this applies strictly to city residents because it's a Charlottesville city budget. Right. But what about the people that end up moving away because taxes continue to go up?

That's a legitimate argument. Okay. Make that argument. There you go. That's a fair argument. Now you've got people who need a car or needed the car even before. And now they're going to need the car even more. And moving away from the taxes, as you said, once they're out of the city, they're not paying the vehicle tax, or they wouldn't be. But now you're getting more people driving, more people driving into the city for jobs,

and I believe that's counter to what the goal of this is, is not to get people driving more. Can you read? I've got comments coming in here. You read the comment that's come in via Facebook message, please. And then I will get to these that are coming in on the pages. Do you have the one that's on Facebook message first? You're talking about Rob Neal? You can go that route if you want.

There are others? Did you take a look? All I'm seeing is most recently Rob Neal. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you were saying there was someone else that commented as well. But yeah, I knew that's where you wanted me to start. Let me get his photo up. No, you don't have to.

Okay. This is from Rob Neal. Yeah, you butchered that one. Yeah, I apologize. Do you still want me to read it? I think we'll pass on that. Okay, I apologize. A little perspective on that there Okay. I apologize. I didn't realize.

A little perspective on that there, J-Dubs. This one's coming in via Twitter. Ginny Hu, if you want to get hers on screen, hell will freeze over before the current city council ever approves a decrease in taxes. 100%.

110%. Albrecht Graves, if they had not paid for all those surveys amongst a bunch of BS spending, maybe they wouldn't be talking about raising taxes. That's a good point. 110%. 110%.

Appreciate you guys watching on Twitter. I just want a more holistic perspective. That's all I'm looking for here. A perspective that's a bit more macro I'm all for a community that is pedestrian and bicycle and public transportation friendly but for us to say we want the cars off the roads and the trucks off the roads and the vehicles off the roads and we want people to walk and bike in public transport before the walking and biking and public transport infrastructure is there,

is the definition of cart before the horse. It's like people saying, let's approve residential development and then consider building the schools later. That's cart before the horse. If you approve residential development, then you have concerns about density at schools in the area, like we're seeing at Albemarle High School, like we saw at Mountain View Elementary, formerly Cale,

and it causes the shuffling or the redistricting of students, which, frankly speaking, could be a difficult emotional and physical experience for kids. We saw that at Stony Point Elementary. We saw that at Stone Robinson Elementary, where kids are being taken from classrooms where they've been for years amongst friends. When you're going through puberty or your adolescence or your teenage years and you're being yanked from one school and put into another one, that's going to be emotionally and physically difficult to do. And that comes when you prioritize density over infrastructure. And what also comes, emotional and physical issues, difficult things to make through,

is when you say you're not going to be able to forge your car to get to and from work because we're going to raise taxes on you. And then we're going to tell you to go take the bus or walk and bike to get to work when there's no bike and walking lanes and no reliable transportation? Anything else you want to add there? Yeah, I mean, I'd love to see the city more walkable. I'd love to see better ways to cross 250. I'd love to see any way to cross 29. But until those and other things happen, this is just not a viable alternative. You can't, like a lot of people said, you can't just force this without any pre-planning. Kevin Yancey, his photo on screen, then we'll go to the next topic.

He says this, how can anyone remotely think about a home when they are financing cars for 10 years and then increasing the personal property taxes on them. Yeah. Heaven forbid this happens as well during the pandemic and COVID when the used car market went out of control and value skyrocketed. Let's say you have a real estate tax rate. That's six bucks like Ms. Osherin wants. Yeah. What happens when that real estate tax rate that's six bucks like miss oshren wants yeah what happens when that real estate tax rate or excuse me what happens when that used car market goes crazy yeah and people are stuck with the tax rate of this yeah all of a sudden your used car is worth more than a than a new car vanessa parkhill makes a very good point How does the counselor make the suggestion to deprioritize cars when her job is at Pippin Hill in Alamaro County and North Garden? Furthermore, the patrons of that

business, how would they get to Pippin Hill? I guess quite a few may use a service like Hop-On Tours, but no one is walking or riding their bicycle there. Yeah. It's a good comment from Vanessa Parkland. All right, next topic. Put the lower third on screen if you could, please, sir. Charlottesville City Council voted yes in a change of votes by two councilors for a ceasefire resolution in Gaza. crowded with in-person attendance as a very well-populated in-person chambers, demanded that council issue a resolution, approve a resolution for a ceasefire in an eastern portion of the world that is currently war-torn. I was gratified that not everyone was there to try to force this resolution to go through. In the initial vote, in a 3-2 capacity or fashion, Councilor Snook, Vice Mayor Pinkston, and Mayor Juan Diego Wade said no and voted no.

We're not going to approve a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. We're in Charlottesville, Virginia. We're a city of less than 50,000 people. Why are we issuing resolutions about a war-torn place thousands of miles from us. What does this actually do? Those three counselors, Payne and Osherin voted yes for the ceasefire resolution. Those three counselors, Wade, Snook, and Pinkston were positioned in a crossfire of a loud, vocal, organized, strategized, very small population who said, how dare you vote no on a ceasefire. What you do as an $18,000 a year counselor or a $20,000 a year mayor in Charlottesville, Virginia, on this dais will undoubtedly have an impact on a war ending in Gaza. Mayor Wade and Vice Mayor Pinkston and Counselor Snook, your vote will help put down

bazookas and machine guns and bring peace to people who need it. You must change your vote. And in a second try, the vote changed and the tactic worked. Vice Mayor Pinkston voted yes. Counselor Snook abstained. Juan Diego Wade held true to his initial vote of no.

Which I greatly appreciate. Where do you want to go with this one? I mean, I don't want to get vulgar, but I don't see this having, I mean, I don't know that anybody sees this having much effect, but

How was that vulgar, what you just said? It wasn't, because I didn't say How is that vulgar what you just said? It wasn't because I didn't say How is that vulgar? I didn't say the vulgar thing. That's why. But this is just you know if

political political experts in small towns across the United States are giving their advice to the Middle East, well, we're all saved. Janice Boyce Trevelyan, her photo on screen, please. JBT. Love when you watch the program, JBT. iloveseville.com forward slash viewer rankings. She's 20 in the family. She says this.

And to what end? It changes nothing. It was a waste of time and energy and it felt very bullied and pressured yeah yeah it it felt like the eighth grade bully on the playground going up to the sixth and seventh graders and saying when the teacher wasn't looking behind the monkey bars in the slide, you better give me your Welch's fruit snacks and your snack pack of Skittles. And if you don't do it, I'm going to beat you up. I want your Welch's fruit pack. I want the red ones, the purple ones, the yellow ones, and the oranges. And give me your Skittles snack pack as well. And you know what? I'm going to take all your Easter candy and give it to me here behind the slides

before Miss Smith turns the corner and looks at me stealing your candy. And it worked. It worked. Pinkston changed his vote. And let me ask you this question. And he's a friend of the program. I see him all the time. But this is part of being in politics. What was worse, the vote change or the abstaining? I'd say the vote change. The abstaining at that point wasn't going to help or hurt.

They already had the three they needed, correct? My problem is that the focus of this is on a ceasefire, as though Israel were kind of the sole aggressor here. And then as almost an afterword, they include that Hamas has to release its kidnappees, its prisoners. I mean, really? Really?

I believe that should be front and center of this whole thing. Kevin Yancey, to quote my grandfather, sweep your own stoop before cleaning someone else's. Bingo. Yeah, that's good. Ginny Hu, does it shock anyone that those two caved? What would truly be shocking is if they had the cojones to speak in support of UVA's Jewish students. Yeah, I agree. Ginny Hu also said abstaining on this vote is a chicken way of being unwilling to take a stand one way or another.

There's a lot of truth to that. Yeah. And again, I appreciate that not everybody at the meeting was there to support this. There was a rabbi, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, Dan Alexander, said those who support this resolution are in effect aiding and abetting Hamas. Because the only one that gains anything from a ceasefire is Hamas. It gives them time to fall back, get their you-know-what together, and reset this whole thing.

And if anyone thinks they're actually going to give up the hostages they have, come on. SHB, great example of virtue signaling, she says. Completely illogical and good for Mayor Juan Diego Wade. Thank you, Sarah Helbutchensky. I concur. Concur. Lisa, Custolo, tactic, get organized even with small numbers. Crowd City Council, an active recorded meeting,

loud, refuse to leave or quiet down. They're giving their way just so they will be quiet and leave council chambers. Yeah. That same tactic was used by the schoolyard bully. Same tactic used by the schoolyard bully. Intimidation. Intimidation tactics.

Albert Graves says, can we get a ceasefire for Charlottesville? Or how about a ceasefire protest for peace in Charlottesville? On Twitter. Ginny says, Mayor Wade recently spoke at a scouting event. I was impressed then, and I'm even more impressed with him for not changing his vote.

I'm going to quote retweet that. No doubt. Me too. And I'm going to quote retweet that no doubt me too and I'm going to tag Mayor Wade well done sir we have a board of visitors and we highlighted this last week and a board of visitors, and we highlighted this last week, and a board of visitors brouhaha between Razorblade Burt Ellis and Rector Robert Hardy, where Razorblade Ellis wanted to talk about the safety of Jewish students on grounds on the record. Rector Hardy said, no, we're not going to talk about this while the mics are on in a public setting, while this conversation is being recorded for all to see. This is a closed chambers conversation.

Jim Ryan sitting right next to Rector Hardy, the president of UVA, Jim Ryan, saying nothing, doing nothing. Razorblade and Hardy go back and forth, back and forth about a very important topic, Jewish students feeling safe on grounds. I mean, that's what the argument was about. Feeling safe on grounds if you're Jewish. And as Ginny said last week, a silent statement speaks volumes. Not making a choice. Similar here with counsel.

Yeah. With the abstaining. Yeah, when you choose not to decide. Similar. All right, next topic, lower third on screen. Charlottesville Public Schools, starting this fall, when you go to a sporting event, you're going to walk through a metal detector.

I need to understand something here. First, why don't we start with the props? The metal detector, when you walk through a sporting safety, security. If you're not carrying a gun, a knife, or a weapon, do you have a problem walking through a metal detector? Right. You got some loose change in your pocket. First off, who has loose change in their pocket anymore?

I don't think, I'm not sure loose change sets off... It doesn't set off metal detector? I don't know if there's enough of the type of metal that it's looking for. Thank you. I didn't know that. I could be wrong.

I could be wrong, but... But if you're not carrying a weapon, do you have a problem walking through a metal detector? Right. So I'm going to take it a step further. I need to understand something.

Are we going to have metal detectors this fall at sporting events? But we are not going to have metal detectors this fall at sporting events, but we are not going to have metal detectors this fall when you enter schools? That sounds about the way of it. Help me understand that, please. I need your help helping me understand this. Charlottesville public schools are going to say you're going to walk through a metal detector at our public school sporting events, but you may not walk through a metal detector at our schools. Help me help make it make sense.

I mean, while we're talking about budget neutrality, I don't know the cost of a machine like this, but having it for one or two entrances at a sporting event is very different from installing it in every entrance of every public school in the area. I don't look at it with that perspective. I look at it with this perspective. Where is the greatest density of kids? Probably at the school. It's not at the softball game.

Not necessarily all in one place like at a sporting event. I can assure you there are more kids at Charlottesville High School than at a Charlottesville High School versus Albemarle High School football game. Right, but we both understand that they're in different classes. They're walking through the same entrance. There's one way to get in the school. There's not, though.

There is one way to get in the school. You're saying there's only one door into the school. I find that hard to believe. You're telling me to get into Charlottesville High School, the students are coming into the schools from the back doors and the side doors? I honestly don't know. Those doors are locked. You can get out of them from the inside. You can't get in them from the outside. It's a safety strategy, a security strategy. That's fair. You are allowed to, you can get out the side door or the back door if a fire happens, but you can't get in it from

the outside. Unless somebody lets you in. And we saw that happen with the brouhaha, but in the fall. Yeah. But the kids are going through the main entrance of the school. Okay, that's fair. You need metal detectors at the main entrance. Make it make sense. The metal detector is going to be at the

softball game, at the field hockey game. The metal detector is going to be at the javelin toss and the shot put throw. The metal detector is going to be at the lacrosse game, the soccer match, the tennis rivalry, the 110 meter hurdles, the metal detector is going to be at the cross country meet, but it's not going to be at the school and the high school. I don't know if it'll be at all of those, but make it make sense, please. I mean, those are fair questions. Make it make sense. I, in the article that we read, I believe that the problem that the schools were dealing with is that some parents want it in both places. Some parents want it in one or the other.

Some don't want it in any of the places. The first place it should be is the school where the most kids are at one time. And there's the least amount of supervision. That's the first place. Make it make sense. Next topic, my friend. This is a quick one before some sound from the police chief and some sound from the distinguished Keith Smith on real estate values year over year.

Important sound for you to hear. There's been no transfers yet into the portal for the UVA men's basketball team. This past year for Tony Bennett was not a good year. We have a lower third on screen? Just about. This team was not a good year. We have a lower third on screen? Just about. This team did not perform very well, and still they finished third in the regular season, third at the ACC tournament,

and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament, albeit by the last four in the play-in game, where they were humiliated by Colorado State. In this era of free agency of college sports, where athletes are more concerned about name, image, where they were humiliated by Colorado State. In this era of free agency of college sports, where athletes are more concerned about name, image, and likeness revenue, and entering a transfer portal for more playing time, or more social media credibility, or more highlights,

Tony Bennett's team, so far, has not had a single athlete enter the portal. Not a single one. And that's a testament to Coach Bennett, and the culture, and the family, and the servanthood that he has created in Charlottesville within his program. Am I going to say no one's going to enter the portal? No. But so far, not a single athlete has entered the portal. You look at what happened in Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Most of that team has entered the portal. Most of the folks that get minutes or playing time, the guys that played for Virginia Tech, in the portal, gone. And we should salute Bennett for creating

this culture, where players stay at a time when it's easier to leave than stay. And that's a testament to Tony Bennett. Next topic. Mike Kotches. He joined us for, how long was that interview? Like 50 minutes yesterday? Yeah.

First, are we on a two-shot? Yeah. You hold me accountable. You hold me accountable second most to my wife. My wife holds me accountable on a regular basis. The other day I made this comment. In fact, I made a note of this. I said, sweetheart, we've been making moves lately.

We've been making moves. We've been closing deals. We've been selling businesses, help brokering business transactions. We have been closing deals here. It's been... We're fortunate. We've been making moves. I said to's been we're fortunate. We've been making moves.

I said to her, we're making moves lately. You know what she said to me? How about you go make some pancakes for our kids? And that put everything in perspective. That's what she said to me. Go make some pancakes for our kids. I said, yes, ma'am. Do you make letters or dinosaurs?

She is really good at making shapes of the pancakes. I'm just trying to get the bisquick from burning. I just don't want the bisquick burnt. Both the boys like them on the lighter side instead of the crispier side.

Yeah. I relay this making moves, go make some pancake story because you hold the show accountable, us accountable here. What did you think of the Chief Kotchis interview yesterday? I thought it was great.

I don't know that he asked any really challenging questions, but I don't know that there are a whole lot of challenging questions to ask the police chief. I think he's been doing a good job. I asked him about FLOC, the license plate readers. I asked him about school resource officers. I asked him about how cost of living was impacting filling his department.

He had 30 vacancies when he started on the job. I asked him about his relationship with City Council. I asked him about his relationship with the city manager. I asked him about metal detectors. I asked him about his relationship with Superintendent Gurley of Charlottesville Public Schools. Which challenging question was not asked? Judah Wicow. Well, I don't think it's... I'm trying to be fair-minded. Some people may disagree with your take. I think, in general,

you're not tossing hardballs to people that we interview, and that's not... How would you have preferred me ask those questions to Chief Kachis? That's not anything against you or your style. What I appreciate is the fact that it allows people that come on the show to talk and not feel like they're being badgered or they're being forced into a corner where they're afraid to answer. I think you let people breathe,

and I think that's a good thing. This isn't a gotcha show where we try to catch people in verbal mistakes. And I thought Conscious did a great job explaining his stance on all of the positions you brought up and I personally

was satisfied with the things that he had to say and somewhat surprised with some of the things that I knew less about so I'm not trying to be... Which did you not know as much about? I think he broke some news on the show.

I mean, there was just... I was surprised about his relationships with some of the people in town. I like the fact that he gets along with counsel and with Joe Plotania. And I appreciate the fact that I appreciate his intellect. I appreciate his take on things, and he seems to have a good grasp on everything that his job encompasses, and I appreciate that. There was also a statement that he made towards the end about, I think he was jokingly, and this is what made me laugh during the show. He made a comment about the police, like something along the lines of nobody,

nothing is really a good job for the police. He's basically saying the police are there. No, this is what he said, and I found it so refreshing. I found it so refreshing. He basically said, rarely is calling the police the solution. Yeah, exactly. He said, rarely is

calling the police the solution. Right. And I was like, this is so refreshing. That reminded me of a movie that I hadn't thought of in a long time, and I really appreciated that.

I appreciated that awareness on his part. What was the movie? It was The Siege. The Siege. With Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington. Oh, I love Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington. It's a great movie. And fairly prescient. Annette Bening in there. Yep.

Considering it came out, I think, a few years before... 1998. 9-11, yeah. It was about, I believe it was about a terrorist incident on American soil. And Denzel is an FBI agent. Willis is a, Bruce Willis is an Army general who's basically begging the government not to send him in. He's like, you don't want me to come in. It's not going to be good.

The Army on American soil is a horrible idea. Please do not do this. And they do it and they don't like the results, and he ends up getting tossed in prison. But the idea is similar in that, look, if everything is going right in a city, then you just occasionally will see cop cars or cops walking around.

It's when... This is why I say in this program all the time. This is what I say all the time in the program. What we want from government and the police is boring in the background. Because if government is boring in the background, things are running well. What we don't want from government and the police in Charlottesville is lawsuits to the $10 million variety because a chief was fired for being a black female.

What we don't want in Charlottesville is poetry rooted in sexual violence that makes its way into the New York Times. What we don't want in Charlottesville is chaos or unpredictability yeah boring and in the background when government and the police department are doing their jobs well you rarely notice them exactly chief conscious sound do you have that ready to go yesterday on the i love Love Seville show, I found this compelling, so compelling that I want to play it again for you today. Chief Kachis, he's been on the job 13, 14 months. He took over a department that had 30 vacancies. We're talking 25, 26, 27% of the department was vacant. He's taken 30 vacancies down to three. Listen to Chief Kochas and how he's had success with filling these vacancies. Three, two, one. In a very long time since I've seen morale this high,

since I've seen the brand image of police in the community this high, since I've seen the community across the board embrace the chief of police probably since the heyday of Chief Tim Longo have we seen positive conditions like this let's put that in perspective what's working well I think it's a it's an all-of-the-above approach right it's not just one thing and I'm asked this you know we had this time last year when we was a little after this time last year when we when I was on before but we have 30 vacancies this time last year. That's a lot for a department our size.

Today we have three. That's amazing. You know, and we'll probably be fully staffed here in the next month or so. I think we'll probably always carry maybe one or two vacancies eventually, but I'm asked, like, how did we do that? And not only are we hiring people,

we're hiring a diverse workforce. Almost a quarter of our workforce are African-American officers. Almost a quarter of our workforce are female officers. And so I've been asked, like, how have we done that? And I can't put my finger on just one thing. We have our staff. They've just been laser-focused on making sure we get the right people in the door who want to do this profession for the right reasons and I can't overstate that Jerry because I think

some people get into this profession for the wrong reasons and we see what happens when when when those folks are able to go out here and be on the street we don't need them and so it's just it's just a people everybody from you know my assistant chief is Steve Nick who runs our administrative services area, to Dwayne Jones, D.I. Jones, who many people know he's been here like 30-some years, was putting our largest and most diverse class ever in the history of the police department in place. They've just been focused on doing the work. So I'm really happy about what we've seen.

Chief Kochess, Charlottesville Police Department. I've said multiple times on this network, there is not a person in Charlottesville over the last 14 months that has had more of a positive impact on the city than Mike Kochess. I agree. I've seen two people have dramatic impacts

on Charlottesville, Virginia over the last four years and change. The first person, I hope he's watching the program right now. I gave him a little bit of grief in the beginning of the show or in the middle of the show about abstaining, and that was Lloyd Snook. But when Lloyd Snook took over as mayor of Charlottesville, fresh from the tumultuous term of Mayor Nakia Walker,

Lloyd Snook brought composure and consistency and civility to government. Boring in the background. He did that as a back-to-back, you serve mayor for two years. So he was back-to-back mayor. He had the respect of his peers to be mayor for two years and then another two years.

I couldn't tell you the last time that's happened. And he did it right off the Nakia Walker tumultuous term. He had, in the last five years, a dramatic impact on Charlottesville across the board. Mike Kochas, same kind of impact. No doubt. Joe Thomas news, and then we play real estate values. You've got to hear how real estate values have either risen or fallen year over year. Q1 2023 versus Q1 2024, courtesy of Keith Smith, a real talk with Keith Smith earlier this morning. I found this extremely compelling. Before we do, let's talk Monticello Media firing Joe Thomas. Joe Thomas acquired a radio station based in Stanton

that has some penetration in Charlottesville and in Albemarle County. That station, was it WTON? Yeah, WTON. He makes that announcement on his show on Friday on WCHV. By this past Saturday, he was pink-slipped by Monticello Media. I used to work for Monticello Media. Joe Thomas used to be my boss. I've had two bosses in my life. Those two bosses, Joe Thomas and Jerry Ratcliffe.

Both fantastic bosses. Both award-winning broadcasters and writers. I learned tremendously from Jerry Ratcliffe from a writing and journalism standpoint, from a managing staff standpoint, from a layout standpointiffe from a writing and journalism standpoint, from a managing staff standpoint, from a layout standpoint, from a newspaper standpoint, from a media standpoint. I learned tremendous from Joe Thomas from a broadcasting standpoint. Two bosses in my life. Mr. Thomas was fired on Saturday by Monticello Media, its owner George Reed undoubtedly issuing or initiating this

pink slipping of mr. Thomas who had been there I believe 17 years at Monticello Media the face and the voice of WCHV Monticello Media issues this metaphorical Burger King manager reasoning of why they fired Joe Thomas. Absolutely ridiculous from Monticello Media. I'll read a portion of it. This is Monticello Media's writing.

They own Hot 1019 Seville, Country 99.7 WCYK. They own the 1075 FM that country 99.7 WCYK they own the 1075 FM that simulcast 1260 WCHV

they own 1400 I used to do a talk show on 1400 WKAV they own I mean what are they 94.1 Oasis and generations I mean, what are they? 94.1 Oasis and Generations 1023. It's Charlottesville Radio Group,

which is a Saga Communications-backed company, and Monticello Media is the two players in town. Monticello Media writes this 22 hours ago. To our listeners in Central Virginia community, we understand that many of you are upset and surprised at the exit of Joe Thomas from WCHV. We would like to explain the situation from our side and hopefully clear up any rumors that have been circulating. This is a he said, she said breakup story.

Are you ready for this, Judah? Yeah. In January of 2024, Joe informed Monticello Media Management that he was in the process of buying a radio station within WCHV's coverage area. His hope was to remain a part of WCHV as morning host and program director while still owning and operating another station. Monticello Media found that scenario to be unacceptable. Monticello Media writes this. Imagine you owned a Burger King and your manager decided to open a McDonald's next door but

still planned on managing your Burger King. Would you allow him to do both? Monticello Media informed Joe that we wanted him to stay with WCHV, but if he decided to proceed with the purchase of another station in our coverage area, that we had no choice but to part ways. Joe then informed us that the deal had fallen through. While we felt for Joe, we were also very happy and relieved to know he would still be with WCHV for a long time. Until we fired him.

However, Monticello Media writes on Facebook, this past Saturday we were informed that Joe had indeed signed a deal in February to purchase his station. We were shocked, to say the least. Since our last conversation in January, the topic of Joe's desire to purchase the station had never been broached again. As previously mentioned, Joe had been made aware in January that Monticello Media saw this as a conflict of interest that would ultimately result in termination from the company.

He made his rightful choice, and we had to make ours. Monticello Media is grateful to Joe for almost 17 years of service to our company, our community, and you, the listener. We know you like him. So do we. He was a well-respected member of our team. Many of us have been on this journey with Joe for a long time. We consider him a friend, and we wish him nothing but the best in his upcoming endeavors. Then they share a coverage map of the three facilities that Joe is buying,

which the coverage map shows that encroaches upon Monticello Media's coverage area here in Charlottesville, Alamo, and Central Virginia. Here's where I'm going to go with my take on Joe Thomas and Monticello Media divorcing. And this is a messy divorce. How would you characterize

the radio industry today? Doing about as well as the newspaper industry? Judah describes it as doing about as well as the newspaper industry. How would you characterize the newspaper industry today? Rough. What Monticello Media has failed to realize is a rising tide is good for all ships. No doubt.

If Joe Thomas is on a radio station in Stanton that happens to creep into Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and also on a radio station in Charlottesville and Albemarle that blankets central Virginia. Joe Thomas and Monticello Media could have worked in conjunction with each other to drive advertising revenue across a coverage map that was vast. This is called common sense and good business. If you're an advertiser and you hear that you can position a call to action message that covers the Valley, Stanton, and Charlottesville and Alamaro County and Central Virginia, would that not appeal to you more than a coverage map that's solely one or the other of the markets? Exactly. Take for instance a car dealer. Does a car dealer care about people that buy cars in

Stanton and people that buy cars in the Valley and people that buy cars in Charlottesville and people that buy cars in Albem, and people that buy cars in Charlottesville, and people that buy cars in Albemarle? What's the answer to that? Does a car dealer wear? Does a car dealer want customers from everywhere? Yeah, of course they do. Of course they do. Instead of seeing the big picture,

as opposed to being threatened and taking your basketball after you got fouled on the playground and saying, this is my ball, I'm taking it home, you got fouled on the playground and saying, this is my ball, I'm taking it home, you guys can't play basketball in this quarter anymore because I'm the one with the basketball. I'm taking my ball home and going, and you can't play. What they should have done instead was formed a joint venture, a JV, a partnership that would have broadened a brand, which is a talk show, and

attracted more advertising dollars that could be shared in equitable fashion. And that is called good business. What they did instead was not see the rising tide as good for all ships. And they further crippled an industry that is dying the death of a thousand cuts. And those cuts are called Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google, TikTok, Snapchat. Except for this particular cut was self-inflicted. This particular cut, not only self-inflicted, but perhaps the cut that goes across the neck or the one that's on the wrist that's not horizontal,

but the one that goes along the arm. Yeah. Not the cry for help cut. I've been seeing comments all over the place from people saying, well, I'll be following Joe Thomas. Dude, he's a fantastic broadcaster. Yeah.

I can't believe they would... And then if the choice is to replace him with a syndicated host, that's the definition of insanity. And by syndicated host, I mean like a national host instead of a local host. That's crazy talk. Aaron King, her photo on screen.

Aaron King, a key member of this family. Aaron That's crazy talk. Erin King, her photo on screen. Erin King, a key member of this family. Erin King's ranking is going to go high. She's 56 in the family right now. She says, you're not wrong. Mike Katchus is George Clooney-esque for sure. It's the George Clooney of policing. Katchus has got the height, the looks, and the temperament to be good at anything he does. If Koch just said he wanted to run for mayor right now, who would beat him? Not a single person in Charlottesville City could beat him if he wanted to run for council right now. Aaron King, we appreciate you. Stephanie Wells Rhodes gives you props 100%. Stephanie's photo on screen. If you could, my friend.

She is 18 in the family. All right. I want to give you some sound and we'll close the show on this. We have gone, the I Love Seville show has gone from 1230 to 146 p.m. That is 76 straight minutes without a commercial break. I've been broadcasting for 70, and Judah, 76 straight minutes right now without a commercial break. Keith Smith on real estate values. First quarter last year versus first quarter this year. This is your homes, guys. Listen to your homes.

Get the lower third on screen so people can know what we're talking about. And then we'll play for you. Keith Smith on Q1 2023 versus Q1 2024 on real estate values increasing or decreasing depending on jurisdiction.

Judah Wittkower in three, two, and one. Some point. Talk about the jurisdictions. I'm taking you off track because we're at the 45-minute marker already. Oh, good Lord. It's flying, I know. Oh, good Lord. Number two.

Excuse me, slide number three. Excuse me. This is Albemarle County. I'll just go through them fast. Albemarle County, sales were down by 16, up by 14. Number four, Havana County. I'll let you give me a thumbs up when you're ready there, Judah. Thank you.

Sales were down by 30%. This is quarter over quarter. So the number of transactions were down by 30%. Price stayed flat. Green County, which I was very surprised to see this. Green County, that's slide number five, Judah. Thank you. The volume stayed flat quarter over quarter. Went down 6%. So there was a 6% drop in price between the first quarter of last year and the

first quarter of this year. Here's the other shocker. Nelson County, this is slide number six, up 7% in volume, up 20% in price. So there was a 20% jump in price. It went from $357 to $392. And the one that we've been talking about for a while, which is number seven, this is Louisa County, up 55%. Price stayed kind of flat, only about 2% up. So we've been talking about this and if you can tag my friend like Greg Slater I use for all the other jurisdictions I use both bright and car for Louisa I only use car because you put bright in it you get all the you get all the Fredericksburg numbers in and it really

skews the skews the numbers so numbers. So these are accurate numbers. So, there you go. Dot the I's and cross the T's. What shocked you about that? I didn't expect green to go down and I sure as heck didn't expect Nelson County to jump that much. Again, I haven't taken a hard look into it. I'm not shocked about the uptick in Charlottesville. I think last year was kind of a let's hurry up and wait and see what happens.

I think that might have been the impact of zoning. Maybe not. I'm sure there's multiple reasons for it. But it seems to be back on par for it. So I was very, very surprised to see the Nelson County one, though. All right, guys, that's the Wednesday edition of the I Love Seville show. It airs everywhere on social media, wherever you get your podcasting content. All we want to do with this program is be the water cooler of conversation in a market we call Central Virginia

that is 300,000 people strong. We want eclectic and diverse perspectives that you can hear, learn from, or be challenged by, and we do it in golden rule fashion, where we don't mind if you challenge what we have to say or what other people have to say, but you do it in a way fashion where we don't mind if you challenge what we have to say or what other people have to say, but you do it in a way that's respectful. I hope people that listen to this program pass along to Joe Thomas that I gave him some props today and had his back today. Judah Wichauer, I'm proud of today's show. Proud of today's show. 80 straight minutes without commercial break. We'll see you tomorrow on the I Love Seville show. So long, everybody. Thank you.